Little Gem

Elaine Murphy’s vibrant script successfully tells a seemingly mundane story of pregnancy, death, love and lust through the love lives of three generations of Dublin women, seen in a series of interlinking monologues. It is their contrasting reactions to the same experiences which intrigues, however, while it teases its audience as these apparently disparate women emerge as a family unit.

If Alice Butler's staging is the bare minimum of three chairs, her projected images only distract from the words. Yet Paul Meade's direction has brought out totally appropriate performances from the three actresses. Even Sara Greene, who has least scope as granddaughter Amber, finds the sharpness of a fun-loving 19-year-old, pregnant before her time.

Anita Reeves has the big, memorable role as grandmother Kay, learning to cope with her husband's stroke and checking out the sex aids in Ann Summers. While at first appearing intolerably banal, she goes well beyond the cliche, and finesses her tear-jerk moment perfectly.

However, it is Hilda Fay as the mother Lorraine, caught between the two and magnifying all their neuroses into her own, who really catches the eye as she creates a character who goes way beyond that which is on the page.